Ground maintenance or grooming of golf courses has become increasingly specialized, requiring equipment particularly adapted to meet the exacting requirements of a properly maintained golf course.
Attention is directed to applicant""s prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,387, issued Aug. 8, 2000, which relates to apparatus particularly adapted for use on the greens of a golf course for the clearing of the green of cut plugs, thatch, thatch balls, and the like, resulting from previously performed aerating and fertilizing steps. While such equipment has been highly effective in the care of greens, recent attention has also been directed toward a more controlled maintenance of fairways and roughs. This has included the cutting of plugs as large as 1xe2x80x3xc3x9712xe2x80x3 in the roughs. These plugs are cut in grass which is about 3xc2xdxe2x80x3 high, and as such, the known prior art equipment has been found to be incapable of gathering and destroying the cut plugs. Rather, it has been necessary, when operating in roughs and on fairways, to sweep the plugs, use some form of drag equipment, or even manually pick up the plugs with the gathered plugs hauled away. Such practices are both difficult and involve high labor costs. Further, such procedures physically remove the dirt, along with nutrients which have accumulated therein due to fertilization and natural replenishment by the growing grass.
The present invention is directed to ground clearing apparatus which is specifically intended for use on golf courses and is particularly adapted to the varying ground conditions normally encountered. As such, the machine of the invention, while operable as a core clearing device for greens, is equally adapted to perform corresponding ground clearing functions on both fairways and roughs where the grass may be as much as 3xc2xdxe2x80x3 high and the extracted cores as much as 1xe2x80x3xc3x9712xe2x80x3. In this manner, the machine of the invention readily accommodates to changing golf course maintenance procedures wherein complete ground aeration and deep fertilization, as by the removal of plugs or cores, is no longer limited just to the greens, but has been extended to the fairways and roughs.
While the main function of the machine is to effect removal, pulverization and redistribution of cut cores, thatch, and other ground debris, it is also contemplated that the machine, through minor adjustments specifically provided for, act as an effective means for scarifying the soil as a preliminary step in reseeding. This procedure will usually be utilized on the fairways with the soil preparation normally timed for fall reseeding. As such, the machine of the invention is actually a multi-purpose apparatus which can effectively perform different tasks in a manner which significantly reduces both labor and equipment costs.
The operating unit of the invention, that is the unit which accepts, pulverizes and redistributes the ground debris, comprises a plurality of blades with rigid spaced tines fixed to and arranged in offset rows about the circumference of a driven shaft which operates within a partial shield or drum open about the lower periphery thereof for the reception of the debris and the rearward discharge of the pulverized material. This operating unit includes a lower removably mounted strike plate which cooperates with the blade tines in engaging and lifting the debris while protecting the ground surface. Provision is made for vertically adjusting the operating unit which, in conjunction with a removal of the strike plate, allows for actual scarifying contact of the tines with the ground.
The entire operating unit mounts on a vertically adjustable support frame which provides for a vertical adjustment of the operating unit for the accommodation of specific ground conditions and more particularly grass heights as will vary between fairways and roughs. The range of vertical adjustment is such as to allow for a complete retraction of the operating unit from ground contact as the machine is moved from one work area to another.
The vertically adjustable frame is mounted on a mobile frame preferably provided with large pneumatic wheels which are particularly adapted to accommodate soft or wet ground conditions. The machine, or more particularly the mobile wheeled frame, will preferably mount laterally to one side of the towing vehicle, and is so hitched to the towing vehicle as to allow for a floating action relative thereto to accommodate any encountered ground irregularities or differences in elevation between the towing vehicle and the mobile frame. The lateral offsetting is considered significant in that the towing vehicle is positioned to avoid a running of this vehicle over the plugs and ground debris prior to pickup. This is important in that, as an example, in working a wet surface, the running of the vehicle over the plugs will effectively embed the plugs into the grass, making their removal extremely difficult.
Other features, details, and advantages of the machine of the invention will become apparent as the invention is more fully hereinafter described.